Fintech & digital payments rules in Albania (2026)

Albania's government circulated a draft law on crypto-asset markets fully modelled on the EU's MiCA Regulation, extending supervisory jurisdiction jointly to the Financial Supervisory Authority (AMF) and the Bank of Albania and adding white-paper disclosure, authorisation of crypto-service providers, and market-manipulation prohibitions. The law is designed to replace Law 66/2020, which predated MiCA.

The European Payments Council approved the adherence applications of all eleven banks operating in Albania to the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme, with 5 October 2025 set as the Operational Readiness Date for live cross-border euro transactions. Albania's estimated annual saving for businesses is €20 million in the first year alone.

The Bank of Albania's Regulation 51/2024, aligned with revised Basel Committee operational-risk standards, became binding for banks, payment institutions, and electronic money institutions, tightening cyber and operational resilience requirements across the digital payments sector ahead of SEPA live participation.

Following Law 55/2020's open-banking provisions, the Bank of Albania issued the country's first Payment Initiation Service Provider / Account Information Service Provider licence to electronic money institution Easypay, with a second licence to Union Financiar Tirana following days later — four years after the enabling law was enacted.

The EPC Board approved the inclusion of Albania and Montenegro in the SEPA payment schemes' geographical scope — the first EU-candidate countries in the Western Balkans to achieve this. The European Commission welcomed the decision the same day as a concrete milestone in Albania's EU economic integration path.

Albania published Law No. 100/2023 in the Official Gazette, guaranteeing every consumer the right to a basic payment account at any bank, transposing the EU Payment Accounts Directive and deepening financial inclusion while further aligning Albania's legal framework with the EU acquis on payment services.

The Bank of Albania adopted Regulation 14/2023 'On carrying out of activity and supervision of payment institutions', filling a post-licensing supervisory gap by defining conduct-of-business rules and compliance monitoring standards for the growing cohort of non-bank payment operators licensed under the 2020 payment law.

The Bank of Albania Supervisory Council adopted Regulation 59/2021 (in force 1 January 2022) establishing the full conditions, documentation, and procedures for licensing payment institutions and electronic money institutions in Albania, implementing the market-access framework created by Law 55/2020 and triggering a significant increase in licensed EMIs.

Albania became the first country in the Western Balkans to legally recognise and regulate crypto-assets when Law 66/2020 'On Financial Markets Based on Distributed Ledger Technology' took effect, enabling Initial Coin Offerings, Security Token Offerings, and licensed DLT exchange and wallet operations under oversight of the Financial Supervisory Authority (AMF).

The Albanian Parliament adopted Law 55/2020, transposing the EU Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and making Albania the first country in the Western Balkans to introduce a PSD2-equivalent framework. The law opened the market to non-bank payment institutions and electronic money institutions, and created the legal foundation for open banking, including third-party PISP and AISP roles.

The Bank of Albania published its National Retail Payments Strategy 2018–2023, setting targets to increase bank-account ownership from 38% to 70% and grow per-capita electronic payments tenfold. The strategy coordinated the digitisation drive across government and industry that preceded and motivated the landmark PSD2 and DLT laws, and exceeded all its targets ahead of schedule.

Bank of Albania Regulation No. 44/2009 'On the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing' established baseline FATF-aligned AML/CFT obligations for all Bank of Albania-supervised entities, including payment service providers — grounding the fintech licensing regime in compliance standards that have been carried forward through all subsequent payment legislation.